


Strawberry Pie

by questionsleftunanswered



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-29
Updated: 2013-07-29
Packaged: 2017-12-21 17:10:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/902790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/questionsleftunanswered/pseuds/questionsleftunanswered
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cecil and Carlos kiss and aren't dipped in acid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strawberry Pie

**Author's Note:**

> I adore Welcome to Night Vale. Had to do a little something for it. It's just a ficlet. Nothing super extraordinary. Hope you enjoy it.

Carlos walked from the library, past the dog park that wasn’t there and no one was thinking about, to get to Cecil’s studio. 

He knocked on the door, but it pushed open at his touch. A hooded figure stood on the left and Carlos could see the back of Cecil through the glass. 

Intern Dana was wiping what looked to be blood off of the top third of the switchboard. She stopped and smiled as Carlos entered. 

“Hello, Carlos,” Intern Dana said. “How have you been? Emotionally, I mean. Not how have you been in a physical sense. No one knows how they are in a physical sense.”

“I’ve been fine. And you? Also in an emotional sense?”

“I’ve been feeling rather teal lately. I think it might be because of the metaphorical dark cloud that I didn’t see over my head last week. It has been messing with my colors.” 

Carlos nodded and conveyed his sympathies hoping that was the appropriate response. Cecil walked out of the booth and Carlos smiled brightly at him. 

“Carlos!” Cecil very nearly squealed with delight, “Have you been listening to the last few minutes of my show?”

“I’m sorry to say I’ve missed it.” Carlos said with a genuine tone, “Intern Dana and I have been talking about metaphorical grey clouds that don’t exist.”

Cecil turned to Dana and looked the way accidentally burning yourself feels. 

“Who asked you to talk to Carlos?” Cecil said in a slow, calm tone. 

“No one. Carlos spoke to me first,” she replied. 

“Go get the blood off the cat that hovers in the men’s bathroom. I don’t want you to leave this building until every hair shows up normally under a UV light. 

With that Cecil took Carlos’s hand and pulled him from the station. 

“We can get a coffee and talk about the time that you are so brilliant about,” Cecil said. 

“Have you not realized that there is no time here? Rather time runs differently in Night Vale than it does in the rest of the world.”

“My time runs differently with you as well.”

“What do you mean?”

“I want to spend all of it with you so it goes faster when I’m with you. Surely you took basic Time Relativity in third grade?”

“I think I missed that class.”

_Oh look at you. A brilliant scientist and he didn’t even have to take basic science classes at school. It’s a wonder he was allowed to keep his thumbs!_ Cecil thought.   

 

 

***

They took a table at the Moonlight All-Night Diner and ignored the hooded figures that were milling about the entrance. Cecil got a slice of strawberry pie and Carlos just took a coffee.  

“Tell be about the clocks, Carlos,” Cecil said. His tone lit up at the end and the lazy smile that accompanied the question left no room for confusion about his intentions. 

“Do you want to hear about the clocks or do you just want me to talk?” Carlos asked with an equally transparent smile. 

“Anything you want to talk about. I’ll listen. I’m very good at listening.”

“The clocks here run differently than every other clock in the world. I thought it was maybe connected to the seismic readings I was getting, but I don’t know how the two could be related. Time here simply does not run in tandem with time everywhere else.”

“That’s fascinating! You’re so good at science,” Cecil said. 

“Tell be about yourself, Cecil.” 

“Me? What about me could you want to know?” 

“What do you like, what do you dislike?”

Cecil took a bite of his pie while mulling over his answer.  

“I really love radio. I love doing it. I hate Desert Bluffs.”

“Is that it?” Carlos asked with a grin and sip of coffee.

“Does there have to be more?”

“No, I suppose not.”

They both finished up and Carlos left money on the table to pay for both. Cecil blushed, but made no move to stop him. 

_He’s so generous_ , Cecil thought. He kept his eyes glued to Carlos’s perfect hair on the way out of the diner. 

There was one of Old Woman Josie’s angels in the parking lot. It was floating under a street light. 

Carlos waved and greeted the angel, “Hello, Erika.”

“Don’t acknowledge that Erika, Carlos,” Cecil warned. 

“Sorry. I can never tell which ones I’m allowed to know about and which ones I’m not supposed to think about or know exist.” 

“It’s ok,” Cecil said. What he meant was: _Gosh I really love the way you look in the half light of the mysterious Glow Cloud. All hail the mighty Glow Cloud. All hail the mighty Glow Cloud._ But he didn’t say any of that. 

They stood three feet away from the angel they didn’t know about and Cecil felt brave. He took Carlos’s hand in his own and smiled.

“Am I allowed to kiss you?” Carlos asked. “There isn’t a rule about kissing is there?”

“No one is allowed to kiss the feral dogs and no one is allowed to kiss within sight of any City Council members as they find the action off putting and irritating.” 

“I don’t see any City Council Members, do you?”

“Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean that they aren’t here.”

“What is the punishment for kissing within view of a City Council member?”

“It depends. Could be acid or just a year in the abandoned mine shaft.” 

“Will you walk with me back to my apartment, Cecil? Could I kiss you there without the City Council putting me in acid?”

Cecil smiled and rocked back on the balls of his feet, “Yes. Yes, let’s do that.” 

 

 

*** 

They made their way back to Carlos’s small, one bedroom apartment. It was attached to his lab and right next to Big Rico’s Pizza. 

Carlos closed and locked the door. He turned to see Cecil poking around through a pile of dismantled clocks. 

“Look how colorful this clock face is, Carlos!” Cecil said excitedly.

“It’s beautiful. The clock it covered was hollow.”

“Most clocks are hollow. That’s how they tell the time,” Cecil said in a normal, not suspicious tone. 

Carlos chose not to question it. Not now, at least.

“Can I kiss you?” Carlos asked again.

“Yes.” 

Carlos’s lips were soft and warm and Cecil completely melted under that bright, brilliant point of contact. Cecil raised his hands and tentatively pushed them through Carlos’s perfect, perfect hair. 

_Oh wow_ , Cecil thought, _his hair is soft and fine and the feel of it is going to burn me from the inside._

He leaned his body against Carlos and wrapped his arms around his thin, fit torso. 

Cecil pulled back and looked at Carlos with happiness mixed with giddy excitement. 

“You taste like kept promises,” Cecil said resting his forehead against Carlos’s.

“I’m hoping that is a taste you favor.”

“It’s now my favorite!”

They both closed their eyes and simply breathed. 

 

 

*** 

Cecil woke up in Carlos’s bed to the feel of a finger lightly tracing his tattoos.  

“The colors changed while you were sleeping,” Carlos marveled.

“Of course they did. The tone of my dreams and the tone of my life changes. The tattoos are a part of that.” 

“Of course,” Carlos mimicked. 

“I have to go soon to start preparing for my broadcast,” Cecil lamented.

Carlos leaned down and kissed the center of Cecil’s back. All of the man’s tattoos moved and gathered to the spot where Carlos’s lips touched. All of them turned a vivid red. The kind of red that made roses wilt and made feral dogs forget what street they were on. 

“I’ll listen to the tail end of your show today,” Carlos promised. 

“My show doesn’t have a tail end. It is a radio show. Radio shows don’t have tails,” Cecil laughed sleepily. 

“Oh right. I forgot for a moment.”

Cecil leaned up and kissed him once more before sliding out of bed and towards Carlos’s bathroom to get ready for work. 


End file.
